I noticed today that one of the 3 trunks of my apricot died over winter. There is some mushroom growing on the dead trunk. I thought it is just mushroom growing on dead wood. But then I noticed single mushrooms going up other two trunks as well, and also down from the base of the dead trunk. Is anybody familiar with this mushroom? Are they grow on live or dead wood? Are they the cause of the trunk death? Any treatment? When I cut the dead trunk - how do I cut it without leaving a large wound between two healthy trunks?!
Dead trunk in the middle:
seen that on one of my father’s apple trees and it killed. same looking mushrooms. maybe someone more knowledgeable will chime in to what species it is.
Did you do a scratch test on the two smaller limbs on the central trunk, to see if they are alive first. If they are you may want to cut just above them, before you pass judgement on all the central trunk. These look like konks rather than mushrooms. If they are hard then they are more likely konks.
Dennis
Kent, wa
Comments Off. When mushrooms or conks, also called a bract or shelf, grow on tree bark, it is usually a sign that the tree is infected with a rot-inducing pathogen. While not all mushrooms are harmful to trees, many are. They cause heart decay, which causes healthy trees to begin to rot at the heart of the trunk.
Yes, I checked the limbs - they are completely dead. I removed the central trunk with a saw, it cuts as seasoned firewood. The other two look OK, but I guess the tree wouldn’t last. I suspect it will dye bellow the cut and will take two other limbs next winter. If it dies, it is a last time I plant apricot. Too much trouble and too much gamble to my taste.
Galinas I tried growing three apricot trees in RI, zone 7-a. It was impossible. I was too close to the sea and the humidity and late spring frosts destroyed most of my crops and hopes. I once had one Tomcot. It was delish, but one apricot after years of the growing the trees was not good. Here they grow like weeds. You can zone push, but that usually doesn’t work in the long run.
The most thing that makes me to shift from the apricot trees is their disease intolerance. It is my third tree. First had canker from the day one and every year I thought it is the last it survives. Second died next spring with some root issue. Third one was so promising, so I removed the first one last year. Now it is infected by mushrooms… I can live with the freezes, if it will produce occasionally good crop. But losing tree that just started to produce - it is over my limits…
Can’t help identify the fungus, but if the wood of the trunk you removed is solid it isn’t rotting the wood. ! had a peach tree that grew a shelf fungus for years. It only grew in one spot and got larger each year, but the tree kept producing fruit well. I moved away so I can’t say how long it stayed alive.
